Just a few weeks out from the release of her fourth rerecorded album 1989 (Taylor's Version) -- which drops on October 27 -- Swift, 33, is doing what she does best: leaving Easter eggs for fans to decode. This time, she's paired up with Google for a word puzzle game that will seemingly help uncover the titles of the record's five vault tracks -- the bonus songs that never made the final cut of the original album.
Starting Saturday, September 16, a closed blue vault began popping up when googling Swift's name. Clicking on the vault brings up scattered letters in a word jumble accompanied by a hint to help solve the puzzle. At first, the only clue was, "My name is Taylor and I was born in...," with "1989 Taylor's Version" being the answer.
Beginning on Tuesday, September 19, however, the puzzles began to expand. The hint "Blank Space" leads to "Nice to meet you," while other answers include "Got a haircut," "She lost him," "Love," "Golf Club, "Pen Click" and "Summer Fling."
According to Google, there are a total of 89 puzzles to get through -- because Swift was born in 1989, get it? -- and the vault titles won't be released until 33 million puzzles are solved.
Swift herself took to social media earlier on Tuesday to tease fans about the Easter eggs. "You can tell me when the *search* is over ... if the high was worth the pain," she quipped via Instagram, referencing the 1989 single "Blank Space." The post also included a video of the same blue vault releasing five jumbled letters and symbols that include L, S, U, T, an exclamation point and a period.
While Swifties are usually lightning quick to solve Swift's riddles -- her latest challenge seems to be stumping them more than usual, with fans sharing their impatience via social media.
"Me checking Taylor Swift google page every single minute just to see 'check back soon' while trying to open the vault," one person commented via X (formerly known as Twitter) alongside a photo of a woman trying to open a safe with a knife and hammer.
"Swifties typing Taylor Swift into google every 30 seconds trying to get the 1989 TV vault puzzles to work," another captioned a video of someone typing furiously on their laptop.
Swift announced the release of 1989 (Taylor's Version) on August 9 at her final Eras Tour concert in Los Angeles. The singer sported the album's signature color blue throughout the show before revealing the rerecorded album will drop in October.
"I figured that [this tour] would be fun but I did not know it would be like this. The last time I was pleasantly surprised by something you guys did was when I announced that I was going to be rerecording my first six albums," she told the crowd at the time. "And so now here we are, the last night of the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour in the eighth month of the year on the ninth day. You might have noticed there are different outfits in the show. There's something I've been planning for a really, really long time and I think instead of just telling you about it I'll just show you."
"Surprise!! 1989 (Taylor's Version) is on its way to you 🔜! The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th," she wrote via Instagram. "To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I've ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can't believe they were ever left behind. But not for long! Pre order 1989 (Taylor's Version) on my site 😎."
Fans began theorizing that 1989 (Taylor's Version) was coming long before she ever announced it, particularly with the release of "Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)" which dropped in March 2021. "This Love (Taylor's Version)" was later used for seasons 1 and 2 of Prime Video's The Summer I Turned Pretty, which premiered in June 2022.
Swift released the original 1989 -- a critically acclaimed record that marked her official debut into pop and first collaboration with producer Jack Antonoff -- in October 2014, earning her second Album of the Year Grammy in 2016.
Upon its release, fans heavily theorized the record was a recollection of her on-off relationship with ex-boyfriend Harry Styles -- particularly in songs like "Out of the Woods" and "Style." While Swift never officially confirmed who the songs are about, she told Rolling Stone in February 2015 that "Style" should have just been titled, "I'm Not Even Sorry.'"
"'Style' is actually about those relationships that are never really done," Swift explained during a December 2014 episode of The Morning Show. "You always kind of have that one person who you feel like might interrupt your wedding and be like, 'Don't do it, we're not over yet.' I think everybody has that one person who kind of floats in and out of their life and the narrative is never truly over."
1989 (Taylor's Version) comes after the release of Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version) and Speak Now (Taylor's Version) which were dropped in April 2021, October 2021 and July 2023, respectively. Swift's choice to rerecord her first six albums stems from her losing her masters in 2019 when Scooter Braun purchased her music catalog in a Big Machine Records acquisition. (The music mogul later sold the masters for $300 million to a private equity company.) Her self-titled debut and sixth studio album, Reputation, are the final two re-records yet to be announced.
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